Optical fiber is a very popular medium for large bandwidth applications, and as a result there is a demand for increased numbers of optical fibers. In response to these demands, optical fiber ribbons have been developed. An optical fiber ribbon includes a planar array of optical fibers that extend longitudinally and are laterally adjacent, and the optical fibers are bonded together as a unit.
It is conventional for adjacent optical fibers of an optical fiber ribbon to be in an abutting side-by-side arrangement. As a result, the spacing between adjacent optical fibers in an optical fiber ribbon is often less than the spacing between adjacent optical receptacles of optical devices that optically communicate with the optical fiber ribbon. Optical devices that optically communicate with an optical fiber ribbon include optical input or output devices, which respectively introduce optical signals into or receive optical signals from the optical fibers of optical fiber ribbon. It is common to prepare an optical fiber ribbon for attachment to the optical receptacles of an optical input or optical output device by striping the bonding material of the optical fiber ribbon away from one end of the optical fiber ribbon. A sufficient amount of the bonding material is stripped away so that exposed ends of the optical fibers can be manually spaced apart from one another and be respectively received by the receptacles of the target optical device.
Often it is necessary for relatively long lengths of optical fibers to be exposed at the end of an optical fiber ribbon to obtain the spacing necessary to connect to the relatively far spaced apart receptacles of the target optical device. The binding material that holds the optical fibers of an optical fiber ribbon together provides some protection to the optical fibers; therefore, the optical fibers that are exposed by the stripping are at a relatively greater risk of being damaged. In addition, long lengths of loose optical fibers that extend from an optical fiber ribbon are at risk of becoming tangled and disorganized, and can be difficult to manually manage. These risks or disadvantages are becoming greater and greater as optical fibers and associated equipment become more densely packaged in response to the increasing demand for optical fibers.